Seventeen Candles
by SiriuslylvnSirius25
Summary: Life isn't always what it seems, really, I know from experience. But even though it's not what's expected, life can sometimes throw you a curve that catches you completely off-guard. Well with me it was more like a dozen curves. Mary Macdonald's story
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

All my line of vision could see was white. Everywhere I looked there was snow covering it. The treetops, the grass, Hagrid's Hut, everywhere. Don't get me wrong, I love the winter wonderland in fact winter was probably my favorite season but what was the point in having snow if you couldn't go out in it? Okay, I can go out in it, but why would I want to when I don't have any friends to go out with? While I'm stuck here in Gryffindor Tower for Christmas break they're all having fun with each other and their families. It's not like I'm not used to it or anything, I mean I've spent every winter break here at the castle, but this is the first year that I have no one here with me. Yeah, there are other Gryffindors here, but I'm not friends with any of them, most are in fourth and third years. I'm a seventh year, three year difference right there.

Oh, I should probably explain a few things shouldn't I? Well my name is Mary Macdonald. Yes, like that muggle fast food restaurant whose food is so greasy that even a pig would have second thoughts on eating it. Anyway, it was not my family who invented the place, nor did my family know the guy who did. So now that that's been made perfectly clear, lets get on to bigger and better things. Take my size for example…I'm tall, quite tall actually. Though that may not be considered big or even really better I saw a connection. I'm probably about 5'10" in height, though I haven't really checked in a year. I don't want to know how tall I am, I already know I'm practically a giant for a girl considering I completely tower over all my other friends.

What about my hair you ask? Well that's a completely different story. The faded brown strands hang limp around my face, stopping just as they get to my shoulders, not exactly what one would call fantastic hair but it's mine, and just like anything else that's mine it's boring. No matter what I do to it my hair will somehow always end up getting back to it's flat, limp form. No volume, no curls, not even one lousy wave-just my boring, old, faded, flat hair. Don't get me wrong, my hair can be okay at times like when it's tied up in a ponytail in the back of my hair where it swings from side to side as I walk. I mean it does my justice sometimes, it goes along perfectly with my lanky structure. As for my eyes, they're basically the same as my hair-common brown poop-colored eyes. Nothing special. Just like me.

Anyway, enough about me-we've already established basically all you need to know. Let's get on to the more interesting people, shall we? Take my best friend, Lily Evans, for example. She's perfect. Seriously, this is not an exaggeration. Perfect grades, perfect curly, shiny red hair, and perfect emerald eyes. Even though her skin is paler than mine (which is saying something considering I'm just about as white as a bleached sheet) it looks good on her. In fact, that milky complexion adds even more beauty to her stunning eyes. Not fair if you ask me. I mean, couldn't she pass on some of her genes to me? Both of us could have flaws then, and maybe I'd look a bit better though I doubt even her miracle genes could save me.

Well you'll learn more about Lily later, she does tend to be around me constantly anyway. So on to some of my other friends, there's Alice Montgomery aka 'Miss Mush'. Yes, that is what I call her, you know why? She has to be the most romantic girl I've ever met in my entire life. Every time she sees some love struck couple in the hallways it practically reflex for her perfectly round face to crumple in a cute 'aww' way. Did that make sense? Oh well if it didn't, it did to me but really there's no other way to describe her behavior. Sometimes it's a bit sickening, but she is probably the most adorable girl in Gryffindor Tower. Her short blond hair flips out at the ends complementing her face shape, and her round blue eyes have that cute baby look to them. It's no wonder why Frank loves her so much. Too bad for the couple that he graduated the previous year. It must be hard for them with a long distance relationship.

Well there you have it, my two best friends. Yeah, I know you ask why are they friends with a person such as me but in truth I ask myself that very question every day. The answer to which has yet to come to me. They're loyal though, really. You don't know how many times they've stuck up for me over the past seven years, and for that I'm grateful. I really don't know what I'd do without them. Seriously, they're like sisters to me considering I don't have any. Only child here.

I guess you're wondering what the point of all this is, anyway. Why are you reading some dumb girls ramblings about Merlin knows what when you probably have better things to do? Well the answer to that is that I have the most amazing, interesting, and fantastical life known to wizard kind, and you're just really eager to read all about it. Ha! As if, maybe I wish that was the reason behind this but no it's not. The reason is that I feel as if the world should know how my life went from boring and predicable to unpredictable, stressful, and quite frankly-out of the ordinary. And since I'm such a nice person I skipped over all the boring routine crap, and went right to where everything started to change. The day that train arrived indicating the start of the second semester of my seventh year.

Honestly, had I known that the second half of my seventh year was going to be as hectic as it became, I would have signed up to be a monk or something-live a life of solitude away from everybody and everything that made my life complicated. But I didn't know that it was going to, so of course I had to suffer-through it all. Not all of it was bad, though. No, some of it was actually enjoyable-embarrassing, but enjoyable.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Where the hell are my friends? I question in my head as I look over to top of the crowd for any sight of them. That's one advantage to being so tall-I can pretty much spot anyone in a crowd simply by looking over everyone else's heads. This time, however, I can't seem to find my illustrious friends. I turn my head left and right in search of them, but the only people I can see is everybody else but them. If they were trying to avoid me, they were doing a pretty good job at it. But why, I ask, would they avoid me when they know I wait for them in the Entrance Hall every year? They wouldn't.

Finally I spot them in the back of the crowd laughing with some boys, but I can't tell who they are I can only see the backs of their heads. I push and shove my way through the crowd with an apology here and there until I finally reach the small group, and my heart stops right there. I swear it, my heart legit stopped beating for a good five seconds at the sight before me. Lily and James. James and Lily. Holding…hands. It wasn't possible. I blink my eyes rapidly a for a few moments, but it doesn't do anything. They're still there, their hands are still gripped together, and Lily is still laughing at something the boy said.

Before I even know what I'm doing, my hands are on Lily's shoulders shaking her slightly. My eyes bug out of my head as I speak, "Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?!" I practically scream the words at Lily, and stare at her incredulously. The shock still not wearing off as I look towards the others, each with their own silly expression on their faces. James looks like he doesn't know whether to laugh or hide, Sirius is openly laughing, Alice is looking anywhere but at me with a sheepish grin on her face, Remus has one eyebrow raised in curiosity, and Peter looks as if he doesn't know what's going on. When I turn my attention back to Lily, I see that she's smiling a goofy smile and saying something that I can't understand.

"Huh?"

"Oh-um, well you see…" she stutters though she is complete amusement at the situation. Why is everybody laughing but me? What's so funny about this? When Lily left she was still sworn to her hatred of the boy she was now holding hands with. Well, not anymore but she was holding hands with him. "We've come to a truce." Wow, that was lame. Where'd she come up with that one? That still did not explain why she was holding _hands_ with him!

"Oh, I see…" I nod my head and trail off taking my hands off her shoulders and looked around at the group once again. No expression has changed, or in Sirius' case the laughter hasn't stopped. "Then why are you holding hands!?" Did I mention I was a bit overdramatic at times?

This time both James and Alice start to laugh, Remus chuckles into his hand, Peter looks around nervously, and Lily bits down on her lip to keep her own laughter in. I didn't know I was so funny, honestly, please hold the applause there will be no after show unfortunately, just now is all. I resist the urge to growl under my breath and instead look at Lily expectantly though she seems to be speechless. Well I honestly must say that this is a first in the Book of Lily Evans. She's never been speechless before. Never.

"Well…" I urge her on.

As if I gave her speech back or something, Lily shakes her head and smiles at me. "I'll tell you later in the dorm," she leans in and whispers to me. I think about this for a minute, my face scrunched up in thought, and I nod my head in an 'okay…' gesture. A grin spreads across her face and she grabs James' hand again (I force back a wince) and we all start walked towards the staircases to go up to Gryffindor Tower.

"But I'm hungry…" Black whines, and I roll my eyes. Here we go…Alice being the sweetie she is will take pity on him and will suggest we go to the Great Hall for a quick bite that will end up lasting an hour or two. I did not have time for this! So before Alice and speak (and I can see her mouth about to open) I say something first.

"Sorry, you're just going to have to wait-Dumbledore has closed the Great Hall to all…um, Marauders and those accompanying them until dinner starts." Wait a great lie, huh? I thought so.

Sirius rolls his eyes and shakes his head at me. "Nice try, but I'm not that stupid."

"Could've fooled me," I mutter, but I'm sure he heard me as just after I hear a low growl come from the back of his throat. Boy, that kid could be scary when he wanted to. It's a wonder he didn't end up like his family with that growl of his. Rarr…just kidding.

"Come on, pleaseeee," he pleaded to us, and this time I outwardly groan.

"Can't you control your hunger for more than five minutes, there are more important matters to discuss without your interrupting. I, for one, need to go up to my dorm right now and get Lily to spill her guts out to me…jeez." Shit, did I say that out loud? I bite down on my lower lip and look at my friend's faces who were all looking at Lily. Oh come on, was it not obvious that she was going to do that? Hello?! I _am_ her best friend, why wouldn't she tell me the second we're alone?

"Well excuse me Miss I-Need-To-Bend-Down-To-Make-Eye-Contact-With-My-Friends." Ouch. That one hurt, really it did. I set my hands on my hips and glare hard at the boy (who just so happened to be _taller_ than me). What a low blow that was. He knows that I'm self conscious about my height. Heck, the loner Hufflepuff that sits in the back of all his classes knows I'm self conscious about it. Way to make me feel wonderful Black, way-to-go.

"Ha! You shouldn't be talking Mr. I-Can't-Go-Anywhere-Without-Hitting-On-A-Girl." Oh, I went there! Yes, the game has officially been started with my comeback. If this was how it was going to be, I am not giving in without a fight.

"Oh yeah…Miss Talks-A-Lot."

"Mr. Gloats-A-Lot."

"Mr. and Mrs. Shut-Up-Right-Now-Before-I-Strangle-You-To-Death!"

Woah, who was that? My eyes widen as I search for the source of a voice only to find a red-faced Alice huffing and puffing at us. No WAY! What has happened to this world?! First Lily is with James, now Alice is bursting out with death threats. This day couldn't get any weirder. Well actually it could, but I highly doubt a pack of rabid flying pigs are going to be storming through the castle anytime soon. Wouldn't that be cool though? Honestly, it would be freakin sweet! Wait, can pigs be rabid? Well, they can now, it's my imaginations anyway.

"I have an idea. How about we drop our stuff off in our dorms then come back down here to eat," James suggests. Yeah, great idea Potter lets walk up seven flights of stairs throw some things into our dorms and walk back down those seven flights of stairs again. Bloody fantastic idea, really. I think not! I am not going to go up those stairs for pointless reasons, if I'm going up there I'm not coming back down here until dinner. But hey, no need to let them no this. I'll just convince Lily and Alice to stay with me, get Lily to talk, and the boys can have coming back down here.

Fool proof.

"Yeah, sounds good to me," I put on a fake smile and nod my head in agreement to the naïve boy.

We walk up the seven flights of stairs in silence, no one daring to speak-probably in fear of me bursting out or something. I don't exactly know why, but hey who really cares. All I care about is that Lily and James are holding hands and it's practically burning a hole through my skin. I want to know why! I want to know what happened over the two short weeks they were gone that made Lily change her mind. Honestly if your best friend went through a dramatic change in a matter of weeks wouldn't you want to know the reasoning behind it? I mean, she didn't even owl me and be like 'oh hey, yeah I guess I like James now. Just thought you should know'. Nope, I didn't even get a decent little note about it.

Ack, what was the point of being best friends if she isn't going to tell me everything I need to know. Am I really that bad of a friend? Did she not think that I wouldn't approve of them or something? Maybe she just thought it would be funny to surprise attack me with it. Either way I should have at least been warned. Merlin didn't even feel the need to warn me. What a cruel, cruel world we live in.

Before I knew it Remus was saying the password to the Fat Lady (which had changed in the time I had left to meet them, weird? I thought so too, but hey the Prefects always knew them, thank Merlin Lily is one so I'll always know). Anyway, I walk through the portrait hole fully intending to head straight up stairs when a hand stops me from moving.

"Uh huh, you don't have anything to drop off. Let Lily and Alice go drop their stuff of and meet you back down here." I look up a centimeter to make eye contact with the person blocking my way to find Sirius with a smirk on his face. I glare hard at him and try to push through, but he's stronger than me. Figures.

"I have the right to go up to my own dorm thank you very much," I childishly stick my tongue out at him but to no avail do I get through. The stupid idiotic pig! Can't he just let me through, it's not like it's a big deal if we don't go with them. In fact, I'd rather not sit at the Gryffindor table watching the four boys stuff their faces with food. It's not a pretty sight.

"Not any more you don't," he smirks. Oh how I wish I could just wipe that nasty thing off his face and feed it to a pack of hungry hippogriffs. They'll probably spit it out though, it's so disgusting. Stupid smirks. Stupid Sirius. Stupid I want to know what's going on! Argh! It is then that I think of my brilliant beyond brilliant idea.

"Fine," I huff backing away and setting my plan into motion. When I'm about 5 feet away from the boy I fake sprinting to my right to catch him off guard before ducking down and running beneath his outstretched arm. Ha! Beat that you stupid-ack! He's chasing me! I run as fast as my tall legs can carry me until I reach the stairs to the girls dorm. Only when I'm ten steps up the stairs does it occur to me that he can just step on the stairs and cause me to fall back down them.

With wide eyes, I grip the railing of the stairs just as a loud noise pierces the air and the stairs turn into a slippery slid. My feet fall from underneath me and my body hangs from the railing, but I won't let go. "Ah!" I screech as the bastard of a boy keeps his foot planted where it is. "You stupid bloody boy, when I get down there, after I talk to Lily of course, I'm going to strangle you until your head explodes!" Wow, I really need to stop saying such gruesome things, people are going to start thinking that I actually will do them. Though in the case of Sirius Black I more than likely will. It's not like he doesn't deserve it.

"Lily! Alice! Don't come ou-" my voice is drowned out by two loud screams. Next thing I know, I see Lily and Alice hanging on to each other as they fall down the stairs turned slide. Damn it. Now I'm going to have to come down from here. So I let go of the banister and slide down behind them.

"Look out!" I yell as I see Lily and Alice disoriented at the bottom of the slide. Shit. Sirius took his foot off the stairs as I was almost down succeeding in turning them back into stairs. "Ow." My butt hits each stair one by one as I continue to fall unceremoniously to the group standing in the common room. Luckily Lily and Alice have moved for I couldn't stop myself as I forcefully hit the floor of the common room.

That's going to leave a mark.

I turn my head towards the cause of the events and glare hard at the boy. Of course, he just smirks back and joins his friends by the portrait as Lily and Alice help me up.

"What in Merlin's name-" Lily starts but I feel the need to cut her off as I charge towards Sirius like an angry bull. Not very appealing, may I tell you. My face is beet red and the anger shown isn't even close to reflecting how I felt on the inside. When I hit the boy in the chest I fling us both to the ground, me on top and him and his shocked face on bottom. "You stupid little prick….you're ruining my life." There goes the dramatics…again.

Can you just guess what he does? That's right, he laughs. He starts to roll around the floor laughing. How inconsiderate. Honestly if he was in the muggle world he would already be in an insane asylum strapped to the bed in on of those white rooms. Yes, he would be.

"Ackhem," a fake cough disrupts this moment of anger and dramatics bringing me back to the real world. I look up to see James, Remus, Peter, Lily, and Alice all looking at the two of us in complete and utter humor. HUMOR! What!? How was this funny? He was ruining my life in less that an hour and they're all standing there trying not to laugh. Why!

"Um…Mary, darling. You're pants just ripped."


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

WHAT!?

My eyes widen as I quickly roll over so that my butt is on the floor. This was not happening. "What do you-" I start only to feel the rip myself as my fingers brush across it. Holy Mother of Merlin! How did I not hear this rip? Oh wait, Sirius was laughing duh, that was why. Ack! Another way of him ruining my life. He knew this was going to happen, I just know it! Somehow he has psychic powers and he egged me on because he knew my pants were going to rip. This boy had it coming, that was for sure. He isn't going to know what hit him.

I start to stand up to run up to my dorm when I realize that the boys are still there. "You four…leave," I say sending warning looks at each one of them, but none move. "NOW!" My face will probably be permanently red by the end of the day from anger and embarrassment. I still could not believe this was happening. Why in the world did my pants have to rip? Why not Sirius'? That would be much less embarrassing for both parties, he'd probably just laugh it off then waggle his butt for us all to see. I wouldn't put it past him.

"Sorry hun, no can do…in fact I should probably fix it up since I am the cause."

Take one guess. Yup, that's right Mr. I-Can-Flirt-My-Way-Through-Hogwarts himself. At least Remus is doing the decent thing and is looking the other way. Heck, even James is staring at Lily. Not Sirus, though. Nope, he's looking directly at me and my bright red face. "Hm, let me think about that…no!"

An idea soon comes to mind as I sit there with my reddening face. "Lils, Alice…come over here please," I emphasize the please with urgency in my voice.

"Do you think you can fix this?" I ask them after motioning for them to move closer. Lily being the wonderful, amazing, incredible, super, and every other good describing word there is, that she is nods her head with a smile on her face. A grin sweeps across my face and I want to kiss her, but I refrain. No need to give Mr. Black more reason to be an arse.

With a flick of her wand, Lily mutters a spell under her breath and I feel the stitching repair itself. "Eep," I emit a small shriek of surprise when I feel the pants become a bit tighter than they were before. "Way to give me breathing room."

"Sorry."

"Nah, I'm just kidding, it's all good," I smile gratefully at her. She has no idea the embarrassment she just saved me, actually she probably does but that's besides the point. "Alright, who's up for dinner?"

While Sirius groans rather unattractively the other three boys nod their head. "Lets get down there before Sirius starts crying," Remus jokes and we all laugh at Sirius' expense. Now that I think about it, he really does look like he's about to cry. Oh well, no way I was going to give him a free showing. Heck I wouldn't even give him a showing if it wasn't free.

We make our way down the seven flights of stairs until we arrive at the Great Hall. None of us split apart considering the newfound bond between the two hearts of the groups. Stupid Lily and James. That means that I have to spend the dinner being tormented by Sirius while everyone else laughs. There really will be no end to this, will there? I doubt it. Lily hasn't even gotten to tell me what happened over the holidays to form this little relationship.

"I can't believe that Snivellus can just sit there and pretend like his life isn't going to become tormented soon enough. I mean, hello…we're back." That was Sirius who said that, his gaze was stuck on the grimy sight of Snape walking into the Great Hall with his head held high. Something must have happened to him over the winter break as well, he was never that confident.

A glare took over my features as I remember the time him and his little buddies had decided to torment me for being a muggleborn. Honestly, they need to get lives. The world does not revolve around them and purebloods are nothing special. I mean, really, where do they get these senile ideas that they're better than everyone else. Lily has more than disproved that theory, not to mention that even I'm smarter than half of the dimwitted Slytherins. Look at Sirius for instance, he's pureblood and we all know how that turned out. Exactly my point.

Anyway, I diverse.

"I'm assuming you guys already did something?" I say with a carefully raised eyebrow.

The four boys just smirk their knowing smirks and keep their eyes on the boy who was now seated at the Slytherin table. How in the world did they manage to do something already? They'd been with us the entire time and as far as I'm concerned they don't have any clones that can do their bidding for them. So when did they do it? Little did I know that my question would be answered within seconds of my thinking it.

James and Sirius both raise their wands and do a quick flick of their wrists. Almost instantaneously the plate in front of Snape as well as a few bowls of mashed potatoes fly up from the table and smash into the boy all at once. Needless to say the chicken that I had been munching on was now caught in my throat. My coughing went unnoticed, however, as everyone in the Great Hall had burst into laughter. No one could hear me choking. Just lovely.

My hands move towards my neck in desperation but everyone continued to stare at the mash potato and gravy covered Snape. Will no one realize me!? I feel myself becoming more and more lightheaded and I am sure my face is blue when finally somebody stops laughing and sees me. I probably look ridiculous too. Remus Lupin, who was sitting next to me, pats me on the back in an attempt to stop my choking and that gesture alone catches the attention of the other five. Lily makes to stand up and get a teacher for help, when the piece of chicken flies from my throat in Sirius' direction. If I hadn't just been choking I would be laughing right now.

Sirius' eyes widen in shock as the chicken flies at him hitting him square in the face. Of course the rest of the group laughs knowing that I'm okay since the chicken was out of my esophagus. However after Sirius got the saliva from the chicken off of him, he was livid. Really. I look at him with fear evident in my eyes as he glares at him, his lips forming a tight grimace. It really wasn't a pleasant sight.

"Look Sirius I didn't…" I start to say, putting my hands up in defense. He, of course, didn't listen to me but instead steadily reaches his hand into a bowl of carrots and promptly chucks them in my direction. A few then proceed to bounce off of me and hit Remus and Lily. My eyes widen like Sirius's had when he was hit with my piece of chicken. I guess I should look on the bright side, at least his saliva wasn't on the carrots.

Still, I don't appreciate carrots being thrown at me so I reach my hand over the table and grab the pitcher of pumpkin juice, and before Sirius could do anything, I dump the contents over the top of his head, accidentally splashing some fifth year and James with it as well. Shit.

I move to duck underneath the table as quickly as I can, but James is too quick for me. His hands are already full with mashed potatoes by the time my legs are full under. With blunt force speed the food is soaring through the air at me. Luckily, or what I consider luckily, only a bit of the mashed potato hits my hair while the rest hits the Hufflepuffs behind us. Under the table completely by that time, I snort into my hand as they too join in the food throwing.

Before I knew exactly what had started, food was flying every which way, some of it hitting me under the table. This, I decide, is not a very good hiding place. So I slip out from under the table only to be hit in the shoulder by a chicken leg.

Gross.

My hand grabs whatever it can find and flings it towards the Ravenclaws, who along with everybody else joined in on the food fight. Let me tell you that four houses flinging food back and forth at each other is not a pretty sight, nor is it one that I really want to be a part of again.

It seems to last only a few seconds before Dumbledore's voice booms over the hall. Everyone stops what they're doing, some in mid-throw. We all look over at the old man standing in the front of the hall, his face looking non too happy, but still nothing compared to the face of the woman standing next to him. McGonagall looks pissed. Either that or her bowls are really not cooperating with her that evening. Even so, Dumbledore was still the one to stop it and so he gets the credit for being the first to crack.

"Who started this?" he begins in his loud voice. I can hear McGonagall muttering next to him about rowdy kids, and saying something about this never have happening before in all her years. Well, something along those lines.

Almost as soon as Dumbledore asks his question, Sirius and I look the other way. I was never all that good at not acting guilty at times like these. I start to sink down into my seat slowly in hopes that no fingers would point towards me. Unfortunately every head in the Great Hall seems to turn in our direction with knowing looks. McGonagall is soon on the move, and I feel the need to duck underneath the table again only this time not to hide from food, but to hide from the wrath of the one woman who really scares me.

"You two," her voice is laden with seething and disappointment all at the same time. "Come with me…now." She is stern with her talking, trying to stay as calm as possible. I know that it's only a matter of seconds before she blows up on us.

Obediently both Sirius and I stand up and follow her out of the Great Hall. I almost have to jog to keep up with her quick pace. Whispers follow our footsteps, but I can't hear exactly what they're saying.

The walk to McGonagall's Office is a painful one. No, not physically but more so mentally. The tension in the air is thick, and walking beside Sirius after that food fight is not very fun. His face, however, remains neutral the entire way. I, on the other hand, am a nervous wreck. I can feel my knees shaking, about to give way on me. I know my face shows my fear as I have never been good at hiding my emotions either,

The second we enter her office and she closes the door her fury is set free.

"NEVER IN MY ENTIRE TIME TEACHING HERE HAS ANYONE DONE SOMETHING LIKE THIS. HAVE YOU ANY IDEA THE MESS YOU TWO HAVE CAUSED?"

"Um…" I begin trying to explain, but my vocals aren't working. I'm too frightened to be able to form a complete sentence.

"She was the one that really started it," Sirius points his finger at me in true childish fashion. I just gape at him still unable to form any words.

"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT, YOU TWO WERE FOUND TO BE THE ONES WHO INITIATED THIS ENTIRE THING AND THEREFORE BOTH OF YOU ARE GOING TO TAKE THE PUNISHMENT!" she pauses to take a breath. At that moment I wasn't even sure she knew how to breathe, her face looks like it was sunburned while she stood in the middle of the equator. "You two will go back to the Great Hall and cleanup that mess TONIGHT! WITHOUT MAGIC!" My eyes widen again, and I am sure that I look like a gaping buffoon. "You will also be serving detention every night with me for the next two weeks, starting at six in the evening. NOW GET TO IT!"


End file.
